Chapter Text
They were staring at her. All of them
Normally when someone stared at her like that, Jude would just stare right back at them.
But then again, normally it would be a person staring at her.
She couldn’t decide whether to throw them at the wall or break them in half, but she had to do something at some point.
There was no point in sitting on the bathroom floor, staring at the three pregnancy tests in her hands.
Three positive tests.
A soft knock to the door broke the deafening silence.
“Jude?” Lili's head popped in, searching before locating Jude on the floor leaning against the wall. “It’s been almost an hour, what did they say?”
Jude leaned forward and slid the tests across the floor towards the door. Lili moved fully into the bathroom, closed the door behind her and crouched down to inspect the scattered test lying at her feet. “So, pregnant then.” She moved over to the wall and slid down next to Jude. “You okay?”
“No.” She whispered, her first words in almost an hour. “No, I’m definitely not okay.”
“Do you know how far along you are? Who the father is?”
Oh, she knew who the father was.
There wasn’t a single doubt in her mind about who the father was.
After all, she had only been with one guy in the last 2 month, since things went down with Locke. After Locke she had pretty much sworn off guys. She didn’t trust any guy after that, except for Oak. But given that he was only 12 years old and her little brother, he didn’t really count.
“Yeah, I know.”
“Who is it?”
See that was the thing. Jude really wasn’t ready to admit out loud, that not only had she had sex with Cardan Greenbriar, but she was now pregnant with his unborn child.
- - -
Jude could sense him before he spoke.
She always seemed to be able to sense him when they were in the same room.
“No mirror tonight?” She could feel his lips moving on the curved shell of her ear. That damn accent of his sent a shiver down her spine.
She wished she could blame it on the drinks, but his British accent had started to have that effect on her the last couple of years. It was probably because his voice had gotten deeper over the years. It was so at odds with the half shrilly voice of the bratty high school freshman he used to be.
Although he could still be a little bratty sometimes.
“Taryn and I don’t talk, you know that.” She turned around from the railing she had been leaning against, looking down over the throng of sweaty bodies moving to the beat of the music. Jude was greeted by those damn beautiful gold rimmed black eyes she was so familiar with. “What, no peanut gallery tonight?”
Cardan chuckled at her joke. “Nic is on a date or studying for a test or something like that, I don’t particularly care. Valerian is Gods only knows where and Locke is… well, you know.”
He came to stand next to her, looking down over the railing like she had been for the last 15 minutes or so.
“Yeah. I know.”
Neither of them needed to say where exactly Locke was.
She turned back around to the railing, facing the moving bodies once again, leaning over yet again, resting her forearms on the cool metal railing.
“So, darling Jude.” Cardan said after a minute.
“Yes, his Highness?” The old insult caused him to chuckle.
Jude tilted her head to the side looking up at him. With the bordeaux billowy shirt and the leather pants along with his eyeliner and the silver streaking his high cheekbones, it did kind of make him look like a faerie. The drink in his hand made him look like he was a faerie king holding court.
“Why the face?”
Her brows furrowed. “What face?”
“Your face.” He glanced down at her, a smirk forming on his lips. “We’re in a nightclub, yet your face makes you look like, you’re hunting for your next prey, that you’ll take home to torture and eventually kill.” He turned to face her. ”So yes, darling Jude, why the face?”
Jude straightened and looked into those beautiful eyes, he was taller than her and she had to tilt her head up. “Who says I’m not?” Deciding to be bold, to see if she had indeed just imagined the heated looks he had sent her for many months, even while she was still with Locke. Jude fisted her hands in his shirt and dragged him down to say in his ear. “Of course it wouldn’t be to torture and kill.”
Giving his earlobe a playful bite, Jude let her hands drag down his chest and backed away slowly, giving him a sultry smile before turning around and heading towards the stairs leading down to the dancefloor.
- - -
“Who is it, Jude?” Lili asked again softly.
Jude couldn't say the words.
Cardan Greenbriar.
At least not yet.
“I can’t tell you who it is.” She whispered, because that was apparently all the sound she could get out. “I have to tell him first.”
“Well, at least we know it’s a him.” She joked, giving Jude’s shoulder a little nudge.
Jude let out a chuckle that almost immediately turned into a sob. “This wasn’t supposed to happen.” She sniffed. “I’m 21. I’m graduating in 2 months.”
She laid her head on Lili’s shoulder.
“Does that mean you want to go to a clinic?” Lili brought a hand up and ran it through Jude's hair.
“I don’t know. I want to go to the doctor's first. Just to make sure.” Jude sniffed and dried the tears with the back of her hand. “Besides, I need to tell the father before making that specific decision. It would be wrong to make a decision without talking to him first.”
Of course that would mean she actually had to talk to Cardan.
The only words she had uttered in his presence since that night, was trading insults with Valerian and Nicasia.
But to be fair, beyond the usual heated looks he had given her, he hadn’t said anything to her either.
It wasn’t like they were friends.
School rivals, certainly.
Former one night stand, she now had three positive pregnancy tests and a possible fetus that said, yes absolutely .
But friends, no.
They are definitely not friends.
This only made her and Cardan’s complicated history even more complicated.
“What are you gonna tell Madoc?” Lili asked, breaking the silence.
“I hadn’t even thought of that.” Jude realized. Which caused another wave of tears. “He’s gonna kill me.” Jude raised her head from Lili’s shoulder to look at her friend. “You can’t tell anyone, Lili.”
“I won’t tell anyone.”
“Promise me, you won't tell anyone, Liliver. Even Van and Garrett. I can’t risk Madoc finding out before I figure what to do or the father finding out before I tell him himself. This isn’t news either of them should hear second hand.”
Lili sucked in a big breath, dramatically put one hand on her heart and raised the other. “I, Liliver Kelsie Moss, promise to not tell a single soul that you, Jude Joslyn Duarte, is pregnant or may I die a horrible, violent death and burn in the seventh circle in hell.” She gave Jude a small smile when she was done.
- - -
He followed her.
Jude hadn’t made it far onto the dancefloor before she felt hands on her waist. Glancing down, she saw long pale fingers adorned with silver rings. The Greenbriar signet ring amongst them. The cool metal of his rings bit into the bare skin around her waist, and then he pulled her against him.
While Cardan Greenbriar didn't look like a particularly muscular guy, Jude could feel every bulge and ridge of his body against her back. Specifically she could feel just how hard he was against her lower back.
Jude smiled to herself. Guess she wasn’t imagining those heated looks he gave her after all.
“Have I told you have fucking fantastic your ass looks in those shorts?” She could feel him smirk against her ear, when she shivered in his arms.
That damn accent.
She grabbed a hold of his hair and pulled his head down to her mouth.
Reaching her fingers into his hair, Jude turned his head to say in his ear. “You don’t have to use your words, Cardan. Other parts of you are already telling me just how fucking fantastic you think my ass looks in these shorts” She grinded her ass against him to emphezise her point.
They started moving to the beat of the music, even though it was mostly just Jude continuously grinding against Cardan.
His hands roved down her body, over the black sequins of her high waisted shorts and settled on her front, ultimately pressing her further against his hardened cock and keeping her from grinding on him.
She felt a groan rumble through his chest, barely audible over the music and Jude’s head fell back against his shoulder, giving him access to her neck.
Cardan seized the opportunity and latched his lips under her ear, sucking hard enough that it would probably leave a bruise. Jude didn't particularly care at that moment. His mouth started moving up and along her jaw and then closer to her mouth. Only to move back down to her jaw, when he reached the corner of her mouth.
When his lips started to move up to the corner of mouth and then down again to her jaw, instead of further up like she wanted them to, Jude placed her hands on his hands and lifted his arms off her body. Then she proceeded to turn her entire body so they were front to front.
Cardan looked down at her, desire shining bright in those beautiful eyes but also amusement. She looked him in the eyes while grabbing his arms, placing them on her body once more.
But instead of on her hips, she guided them down to rest on her ass. Cardan gave her ass a firm squeeze and hooked his fingers under the hem of her shorts.
Then Jude slung her arms around his neck and spoke loudly, so he could hear her over the music: “Fucking commit to it!” and pulled his lips down to hers.
- - -
At some point they slid down completely on the floor. They had been laying on the floor for a couple hours, just staring at the ceiling, when Lili broke the silence once again.
“5 weeks.” She muttered. “You’re about 5 weeks, aren’t you?”
Jude’s head whipped towards her roommate so fast she was surpised she didn't get whiplash. “How did you know that?”
“It was that weekend you had your interview at Oceanside Magazine for that photography internship, and you were staying at Vivi and Heather’s. When you came home that weekend you had hickeys and bite marks up and down your throat, your neck looked like it had been attacked by an animal or something.”
Lili had a thoughtful expression on her face. “You didn’t say anything about it, so I just figured it was some random guy and you didn’t want to talk about it. But if you’re worried about words getting to him about you being pregnant, it’s someone we know or least run in the same social circles as.” Lili twisted her head to at Jude. “It’s someone from Elfhame, isn’t it?”
Shit.
Jude sat abruptly.
“No.” She said, chewing on her bottom lip.
“Jude.” Lili sat up next to her with a worried look on her face. “Is it Locke?”
“I have to find my phone.” Jude got up from the floor, walked out of the bathroom and began searching for her phone.
She found her phone discarded on the kitchen counter, next to the half eaten cereal bowl she had abandoned hours ago, in favor of throwing up. That’s when Lili had handed her the boxes of pregnancy tests, Just in case , she’d said.
Staring at her phone in her hand, Jude realized she didn’t have Cardan’s phone number.
But again, they weren’t friends.
Instagram it is.
“Jude, is it Locke?” Lili asked again, breaking Jude out of her staring contest with her phone. Lili eyes shined with concerned
“No, it’s not Locke.”
“Okay, good.” Her shoulder sagged with what could only be relief. “Good”
“I wouldn't touch him with a ten-foot pole.”
Opening the app, Jude quickly found Cardan’s account and sent him a text.
Can we talk?
His reply came almost immediately.
just drop by
you know the address
;)